1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display which can be used in a computer display unit or television receiver or the like, and to electronic devices suitable for such a display. In particular the invention is one which enables a display device which is precise yet large size to be easily realized.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, CRT or liquid crystal displays or the like are used for example in computer display units. Furthermore, there are many situations where displays which use light emitting diodes are applied to large size display units provided for example on the walls of buildings.
Moreover, there is also the situation where for a display unit set up outdoors, an overall large size display unit is realized by horizontally and vertically stacking a plurality of CRT receiving sets.
In the conventional construction of a CRT display or liquid crystal display or the like, in the case where a large size display unit is to be realized, generally the dimensions of the display screen itself are made large size, that is, the dimensions of one display are made to a desired size. However with such a method, the dimensions of each part of the manufacturing line must also be made large corresponding to the desired dimension of the display. Furthermore, the handling of the semi-finished products during manufacture is difficult. Hence there is naturally a limit to the size which can be manufactured.
On the other hand, with a large size display which uses light emitting diodes, the construction is such that individually manufactured light emitting diodes are assembled together to make up the display. Therefore, even though a large size display is manufactured, the dimensions of each part of the manufacturing line need not be large for this. Hence this is advantageous as a method of manufacturing large size displays. However, with actual large size displays which use light emitting diodes, it is assumed that these will be viewed from a distance. Therefore, the diameter of the individual light emitting diodes is made large and the pixel pitch is coarse. Consequently, for close up viewing use as with large size household displays, the pixels are too coarse and hence this is unsuitable.
Furthermore, with a construction where a plurality of CRT receiving sets are stacked together to give a large size display unit, image precision is obtained. However this has the drawback in that since the frame part of the CRT receiving set exists between the respective CRT receiving set pairs, the image is divided at that part.
The present invention addresses such unsolved problems of the conventional technology, with the object of providing a construction for a display where the image is precise, and which is also applicable to large size, and to provide a construction for electronic devices suitable for such a display.
In order to achieve the above object, a display, being a first aspect of the present invention, is one in which a plurality of display blocks comprising a plurality of pixels, and a terminal portion into which signals can be input for controlling optical characteristics of each of the pixels, are linked together so as to be continuous in at least one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and signals are input in parallel to each of the display blocks via the terminal portion. Here xe2x80x9coptical characteristicsxe2x80x9d indicates for example transmissivity or the like of a liquid crystal in a liquid crystal display device.
Furthermore, a display, being a second aspect of the present invention, is one in which a plurality of display blocks comprising a plurality of pixels, and a terminal portion into which signals can be input for controlling light emitting characteristics of each of the pixels, are linked together so as to be continuous in at least one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and signals are input in parallel to each of the display blocks via the terminal portion.
In order to achieve the above object, a display, being a third aspect of the present invention, is one in which a plurality of display blocks comprising a plurality of pixels containing organic EL elements, and a terminal portion into which signals can be input for controlling light emitting characteristics of each of the pixels, are attached to a transparent substrate so that a display surface faces the transparent substrate side and so that the display blocks are continuous in at least one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and signals are input in parallel to each of the display blocks via the terminal portion.
Moreover, a fourth aspect of the present invention is that in the display being the second or third aspect, a power supply being supplied in parallel to each of the display blocks via the terminal portion.
Furthermore, a fifth aspect of the present invention is that in any one of the second through fourth aspects, a terminal portion which respectively conducts horizontally extending wiring and vertically extending wiring inside the display block being gathered at one side of each display block, so that the terminal portion is only provided at one side of the display block.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is that in the display, being the second through fifth aspects, the terminal portion being provided so as to be positioned on a rear side rather than a periphery portion of the display block.
Moreover, a seventh aspect of the present invention is that in the display, being the second through sixth aspects, the display blocks having a construction in which a plurality of microstructures made with electronic circuit elements are disposed on a substrate.
Furthermore, an eight aspect of the present invention is that in the display, being the seventh aspect, a drive circuit for the pixel being made in the microstructure.
On the other hand, in order to achieve the above object, a ninth aspect of the present invention is that in an electronic device comprising horizontally extending wiring and vertically extending wiring, there being provided a plurality of microstructures arranged on a substrate at positions corresponding to those where the horizontally extending wiring and vertically extending wiring intersect, and in the microstructures there being provided a portion of the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring which includes a portion where the two wiring non-contactingly intersect with each other, a first direction conversion wiring which conducts with one of the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring and which is taken out from the microstructure in the same direction as the other of the two, a second direction conversion wiring which does not conduct with the other wiring inside the microstructure, and which is taken out from the microstructure in the same direction as the first direction conversion wiring and so as to be adjacent thereto, and pairs of the horizontally extending wiring of the microstructure which are adjacent in the horizontal direction being connected, and pairs of the vertically extending wiring of the microstructure which are adjacent in the vertical direction being connected, and furthermore the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring of adjacent microstructures being selectively connected, so that end portions conducting with the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring are gathered at one side of the substrate.
In order to achieve the above object, a tenth aspect of the present invention is that in the electronic device, being the ninth aspect, plurality of microstructures with drive circuits being arranged on a substrate, and the microstructures being connected by wiring, and a signal can be supplied from the outside to a terminal portion of the wiring.
Here in the first or second aspects of the present invention, since the display is constructed with a plurality of display blocks linked together, a display of optional dimensions can be easily realized, and since each of the display blocks are linked together so as to be continuous, there is no situation where the image is discontinuous between the display blocks. Furthermore, in each of the display blocks, signals are input in parallel to each display block via the terminal portion. Therefore, then even if the number of pixels of the display is large, there is no situation where scanning is not on time.
Furthermore, in the third aspect of the present invention, each pixel comprises an organic EL (electroluminescence) element and each display block is attached to the transparent substrate so that the display surface (typically the surface on the other side to the cathode of the organic EL element) through which the emitted light from the organic EL elements shines to the outside faces the transparent substrate side. Therefore the emitted light from each display block is shone to the outside through the transparent substrate. Moreover, by attaching each display block to the transparent substrate so that these become mutually continuous, the situation where an image which can be seen from the rear face side (the side opposite to the display block attachment side) of the transparent substrate becomes discontinuous between each display block does not arise. Hence a display of optional dimensions can be easily realized. Furthermore as with the first aspect, since signals are input in parallel to each display block via the terminal portion, the situation where scanning is not on time does not arise even if the area of the display is large.
Moreover, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, power is supplied in parallel to each display block. Therefore, different to a construction where power is supplied altogether to the entire display, even if the area of the display becomes large, a situation where power supply for a part of the pixels is insufficient does not arise.
Furthermore, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the terminal portion is provided on only one side of the display block. Therefore, this is convenient from the viewpoint that the display block pairs are continuous without gaps. That is, in a normal display, the end portions of the horizontally extending wiring, and the end portions of the vertically extending wiring are positioned separated on two adjacent sides. Therefore, if a display of the same shape is made continuous, there is the possibility that the ends of the wiring will cause an obstacle. On the other hand, in the fifth aspect, it is not necessary to take out the end portions of the wiring from the edge portions of three sides of the display block. Therefore it is relatively simple to link the display blocks so as to be continuous in one direction.
Furthermore, according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the terminal portion is positioned on the rear face side (the face opposite to the display surface) of the display block, in other words the terminal portion is offset to the rear side of the display block. Therefore, the entire outer edge area of the portion where the pixels of the display block are disposed is exposed, so that the display block pairs can be made continuous with the edge portions of the adjacent display blocks in close contact.
In the sixth embodiment, if the construction is such that the pixel drive circuits are also contained in the terminal portion, arrangement of the pixels over the entire display surface of the display block is facilitated. Moreover, this avoids the situation where in the case where each display block pair is continuous, the spacing of the pixels at the boundaries is considerably wider than for the other portions.
On the other hand, regarding the seventh aspect of the present invention, the display blocks are constructed using microstructures. Therefore, even in cases where the proportion occupied by the electronic circuits with respect to the area of the display blocks is small, the situation where a large waste occurs for example in a semiconductor material is avoided.
The electronic circuits elements made in the microstructure, may be any elements, provided these are for constructing electronic circuits, for example transistors, capacitors, resistors, wiring and the like. In particular, in the case of displays where pixel drive circuits are necessary, the pixel drive circuits with combinations of such electronic circuit elements may be made in the microstructure.
Details of microstructures are given in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,904,545, 5,824,186, 5,783,856 and 5,545,291.
In the eighth aspect of the present invention, the pixel drive circuits are made in the microstructures. Therefore wiring drive circuits need not be separately provided at the peripheral portion of the display.
Moreover, in the ninth aspect of the present invention, the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring are provided inside the microstructure, and in adjacent microstructure pairs, the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring is selectively connected, and the end portion conducting the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring can be gathered on one side of the substrate.
That is, according to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the portion where the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring non-contactingly intersect is made in the microstructure, and the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring are also made in the microstructure, and are taken out from the microstructure with the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring in an adjacent condition. Therefore it is not necessary to non-contactingly intersect the wiring pairs on the substrate. More specifically, the wiring on the substrate need not be multi-layered wiring.
Regarding the electronic devices to which the ninth aspect can be applied, it is sufficient that these are electronic devices comprising horizontally extending wiring and vertically extending wiring, and for example there can be considered various devices which are provided with a display (organic EL display, liquid crystal display or the like) such as in the first through eighth aspects, sensor arrays, touch pads, fingerprint recognition apparatus, digital cameras and so on.
Moreover, in the tenth aspect of the present invention, the drive circuits are made in the microstructures. Therefore there is no longer the need to separately provide drive circuits at the peripheral portion of the electronic device.
Furthermore, as an electronic device to which the tenth aspect can be applied, for example there can be considered various devices which are provided with a display (organic EL display, liquid crystal display or the like) such as in the first through eighth aspects, sensor arrays, touch pads, fingerprint recognition apparatus, digital cameras and so on.
According to the first through eighth aspects of the present invention, a display is realized by continuously arranging display blocks in at least one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. Therefore there is the effect that a precise and also large size display can be easily realized.
Furthermore, according to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the first direction conversion wiring and the second direction conversion wiring is provided in the microstructure, and these are selectively connected. Therefore there is the effect that the horizontally extending wiring and the vertically extending wiring can be easily gathered at one side.
Moreover, according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the drive circuits are made in the microstructure. Therefore there is the effect that the drive circuits need not be separately provided at the periphery of the substrate.